Improvement in looms



5 Sheets--Sheet I l. KNOWLES;

Looms.

Patented Jan. 21,1873.

Wii'nesaes.

AM. PHOTU-LIT/IflGRAFH/C ca Mmosaagwsls PRocsss) 5 Sheets--Sh1 eet 2.

J. KNOWLES.

Looms.

Patented Jan. 21, 1873.

INV E N TOR:

WITN ESSES;

AM. PHOT0-UTH06RAPHIO ca Mflvseama'? mums) v.

5 Sheets--Sheet 3. L. l. KNOWLES.

Looms.

N0. 134,992, PatentedJan.2 1,1873.

WITNESSES INVENTOTL'.

AM. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPIIIC m 1v.( aseamvzs PRacEss.)

5 Sheets--Sheet 5.

.I. KNOW LES.

Looms.

Patented Jan. 21, 1873.

m w 0 m T m J N 7 mm m mg u v T SMI N E Hz M m m M. w w W w w m M & W E S 5 OJ E UNITED TATE NT FFIGEO LUOIUS J. KNOWLES, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN LQOMS.

.view of the loom. Fig. 3 represents an end of the loom, upon which the harness mechanism is mounted. Fig. 4 represents a top or plan view. Fig. 5 represents views of detached parts of the harnessoperating mechanism. Fig. Grepresents a side view of the elevatingplate, by means of which all of the heddles are thrown into one shed, for the purpose hereafter described. Fig. 7 represents sectional views of the lever-holding device, as hereafter described; and Fig. 8 represents a side view of the levers for operating the shuttle-boxes.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention belongs to make and use, the same, I will describe it in detail.

As many parts of the loom are similar to those forwhich Letters Patent have heretofore been granted me, and which patented looms are well known to the public, a detailed description of the loom shown in the drawing is unnecessary, and I shall, therefore, confine the description mainly to the new features now sought to be secured by Letters Patent.

The nature of my said improvements or in vention consists,first,in the combination,with the harness-operatin g mechanisms of a loom, of mechanism whereby the 'operator can at will, and independently of the pattern chain or wheel, cause all of the warp-threads to fall into one single line or plane; second, the combination, with the harness-operatin g mechanism ofa loom, of an automatic device for preventing the pattern chain or wheel from being turned at an improper time; third, a lever guard or shield,

as hereafter described; fourth, in the combination of certain mechanical elements for operating the shuttle-boxes of looms; and, fifth,

in the combination, with one end of an elevated frame, of gear-crank connection, vibrating arms, and angle-levers, forthe purpose of op-j erating the harnesses of looms in which a pat tern chain or wheel is used, as hereafter explained; sixth, the combination, with the vibratin g levers, of curved or circular recesses or depressions, asand for the purposes hereafter set forth; seventh, the combination, with the shaft of the'pattern chain or wheel, of a locking arm and bolt, as hereafter described.

It often happens that it is necessary to move the harness motion to find the proper pick when the filling-thread has been broken, run out, or for other causes. To avoid putting in motion the whole loom mechanism when this is done, I combine with shaft A, which gives motion to the harness mechanism, a clutchhub, A, having a groove, a, into which the forked end of lever A is fitted. The other end of said lever extends through to the front of the loom, and is arranged within easy reach of the operator. When, therefore, theoperator desires to turn the harness mechanism, as before stated, the front end of lever A is depressed and clutch-hub A elevated, so thatit will be disconnected with the clutch-hub upon the driving-gear below it. Lever A may be held down by any suitable catch. The operator can now turn the harness mechanism by means of power applied to any suitable part thereof, and that, too, without turningthemechanism that operates the lay of the loom.

For thepurpose of mending threads, picking out imperfect work, and for other reasons, it is very desirable to bringall the heddles, and thereby all the threads, together into one line or plane. This result is produced in my improved loom by a very simple and effective device, as follows: The free ends of the vibrat ing levers B rest upon the elevating bar or plate B, Figs. 5 and 6, which is provided with two slots, 12 b, the lower ends of the slots being horizontal, all as fully shown in Fig. 6.

When the operator desires to bring all of the heddles into one line, handle I) is grasped and plate B is drawn forward, when the said plate, together with the free ends of'levers B, will be raised until the horizontal parts of the slots 1) I) rest upon the stationary guide screws or pins, which pass through said slots, and are fast in the stationary comb B in which the front ends of levers B work. When in this posi tion plate B will remain until pushed back, thus holding all of the vibrating levers clear of the pattern-wheel B, or pattern-chain when one is used. As a result of this change of theparts, the harness-elevating cogged wheel 0 will bring the upper ends of all the angle-levers O forward, Where they will remain, all the heddles being raised to the highest point in line with each other; When the weaving is to be renewed, the operator pushes plate B back to its original place, and the pattern wheel or chain acts again.

It will be understood that by changing the mechanism, the line at which the heddles shall meet may be varied. The operator often hastoccasion or desires '7 to move the pattern -chain, and should the change be made when the harness motion is in operation at certain stages, then a serious derangement of the parts would result, as will be understood by those skilled in the art. To guard against such improper movement of the pattern chain or wheel a safety lockin g device is employed.

A shaft, 0, is fitted to turn in suitable bearings in the elevated part D of the loom-frame D, and has attached to its outer end a bent arm, 0, which is acted upon by a cam, d, upon the outer end of the shaft of the harness-depressing cogged wheel E, so as to permit the upper hooked end 01 of the arm 0, fastened to shaft 0, toswing forward over the ends of all the vibrating levers B that are to remain down during the pick for the shed which has been set consequently the operator cannot turn the pattern chain or wheel until the hooked end d of arm 0 has been turned back by the cam, as shown in the drawing.

When several levers are to be attached to a common fulcrum or spindle, it is quite convenient to have some arrangement whereby each or all of the levers can be removed from their fulcrums for repairs or for other purposes. My improvement for accomplishing this purpose is very simple and yet effective, and it is shown in the drawing in combination with the fulcrums of vibrating levers B; and

' which improvement consists of a movable cap,

the lever-supporting frame F, whereby the.

ends of said frame can be screwed or clamped against the ears and ends of the lever-cap E, by means of nut 0, when the cap has been once adjusted, and thus hold it in place without binding the ends of the levers. The ends of the levers are slotted out upon their under sides, so that they can be dropped down upon the fulcrum-rod, as indicated in Fig. 5, after which the cap E is turned up over their ends, as shown in the same figure.

If it is desired to withdraw or take out any one or all of levers B, the operator simply loosens nut e and turns cap E back, when the rear endsof thelevers can be lifted off of the fulcrum-rod. This, it will be noticed, is a good and useful improvement for holding a series of levers in place, and which is susceptible ofextensive use.

In the construction of mechanism for operating movable shuttle-boxes muchtime and money have been spent, and yet this part of a loom is regarded by manufacturers as far from what it ought to be, and I have been led, from the practical difficulties which I have met with as a manufacturer of looms, to combinecertain elements heretofore used by me separately in differentlooms inthe loom shown in the drawing, but under different combinations and arrangements, whereby substantial and important advantages are obtained, and the loom rendered far more desirable and useful. The shuttle-box motion is obtained in this loom by a compound lever, G, Figs. 2 and 8, the longer part, G, of the lever being hinged or fulcrumed to the lower end of the other part G at m, (see dotted lines,) while the latter is fulcrumed at a. The upper ends of both of said levers are operated by means of 0011- necting-arms p from separate gear-cranks H, Fig. 8, connected with the inner ends of two of the vibrating levers B. By this arrangement a four-motion shuttle-box can be very successfully operated. For instance, the lower end of compound lever G being connected with the shuttle-box frame by cords z, or in any other convenient or well-known manner,

one of the boxes being in place, the loom is started, when, after the first box has been used, lever part G is drawn forward, when the lower end of lever part G will be thrown back and the second shuttle box raised into position; then the upper end of lever part G is drawn forward, therebythrowing its lower end still further back; but while this is being done, the upper end of lever part G is thrown back, thus discounting one, as it is called-that is, prevents only one box, the third being raised into position, whereas the sweep of lever part G would have been sufficient to have raised the fourth boX'into place, but for the back motion of lever part G. tion by the upper end of lever part G being drawn forward. It will thus be seen that with two compound levers, G, connected to crankgears H and vibrating levers B, a four-motion shuttle-box can be operated in a very perfect manner, and thus the elements patented to me February 24, 1863, have been combined with those described in the patent granted to me December 13, 1870, in a novel and useful manner. The pattern-wheel B is driven from a gear on the end of the shaft of the depressingwheel E, taking into gear K, loose on shaft 1 of the pattern-wheel, but having counter sinks 2, into which springs a catch-bolt in the end of arm L fast to the end of shaft I. By this arrangement the pattern-wheel or chain can be moved without moving the harnessmotion, since by withdrawing the spring-bolt The fourth box is now raised into posion the arm L it, together'with the patternwheel, can be revolved without turning gear K; Those skilled in the art will appreciate this improvement, since they will see that this pattern chain or wheel can be adjusted readily.

In the operation of the loom patented to me February 24, 1863, there have been found several practical objections when used in certain kinds of weaving. In the first place the arran gem ent of the cranks, toothed crank-wheels, and lifter and depressor wheels was inconvenient for certain classes of work. Then, again, to obtain the necessary variation in the elevation or depression of the several lines of heddles, the connectingarms had to be connected to the gear-cranks in different positions, and consequently they had to be all marked or numbered, and each crank and'its particular arm had to be placed in a particular position in the loom. This led toa great deal of trouble, since, if the crank-pin happened to be a little out of place, there was trouble; then, when one broke, mistakes were made in selecting or sending for the right one.

These difficulties and others which might be named have been overcome by my present improvements, since I have connected with the loom-frame D an elevated frame, D, of such construction that the harness and shuttlebox motions, or mechanism for producing such motions, can be located above one end of the looms and yet within reach of the operator. The gear-cranks, lifting and depressing whe els occupy horizontal positions, and such, too, that angle-levers O can be combined therewith, whereby all the gear-cranks and their connections can be made alike, the difference in positions of the various series of heddles being obtained by means of notches in the angle-levers, and into which notches cords or chains are to be hitched for the purpose of giving motion to the heddles or harnesses withwhich they are connected in the usual manner. The under sides of the vibrating levers B, Fig. 5, are made with curved or circular recesses l, for the purpose of allowing the pattern-wheel B, after its points or fingers 3 have raised the levers B to the proper height,

to continue to move without lowering them, so that they may remain in position until their crank-gears have been operated upon by the elevating cogged wheel. The arms or elevating-levers B are made with slots J for the purpose of allowing them to spring in case of deran gem ent of the gear-cranks.

Having described my improvements in looms, what I claim therein as new and of my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, with the vibrating levers B, of an elevating bar or plate independent of the pattern-chain, to raise said levers out of connection with the patternchain, and place them in I gear with the lifting mechanism, for the purposes set forth.

2. The combination, with the free ends of the vibrating levers B, of the slotted plate B, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. The combination, with levers B and look ing device d. and e, of shaft 0, arm c and cam cl, substantiallyas and for the purposes set forth.

4. The movable cap or lever holder E,- substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

5. The combination, with two separate geareranks H H and their vibrating levers B B,

of the compound levers G and the connections p 12, substantially as and for the purposes set forth. 1

6. The combination, with the vibrating arms B and their gear-cranks H, of thevcogged lifting and depressing wheels (3 E and anglelevers (3, said parts being constructed and relatively combined with each other on the elevated frame D, as shown and described.

7. In combination with the pattern-cylinder B, the'levers 13 having the curve 1, as and for the purposes set forth.

S. vThe combination, with the shaft of the pattern chain or wheel and gear K, of the locking-arm L and its bolt, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

LUGIUS J. KNOWLES. Witnesses:

THos. H. Donen, E. E. Moons. 

